Sabtu, 12 November 2016

John Fenn, Knowing Your Spirit #1

You may manage your subscription (change email, un-subscribe, etc) by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. And remember to use cwowi@aol.com to email me personally.

Hi all,

Barb
and I were visiting her grandmother, who at nearly 90 years old lived
in a nursing home, having moved there from the farm that had been in
their family since the middle 1800's. She had reached the point she
couldn't care for it and became confined to a wheelchair, so a nursing
home in town near Barb's family was where she moved.

Barb
and I were just teenagers at the time, but loved talking to her about
the Lord and the farm and faith and her younger days, when her
grandmother said something that has stayed with us all these years:

"Inside I still feel like that 17 year old girl running through the orchard on the farm, but this body has changed around me."

Man's unchanging spirit

Her
grandmother's observation is one all adults can make. We have grown
physically, mentally, and experientially through the years, but inside
we still feel like we did years or even decades ago. Her grandmother at
age 90 still felt like a teenager running through the family orchard as a
17 year old, but her body changed around her. Barb ran through that
same orchard at about age 9 and has wonderful memories of 'the farm'.
But today we would walk, not run through that orchard if it still
existed (It doesn't).

For
me I think back to being able to run up and down a basketball court for
hours when I was 17, but I'm not able to jump as high nor change
direction as quickly as I used to - and don't even ask me to dunk a
basketball now. Inside I'm the same, but this body has changed around
me.

This proves...

This
observation about the body changing around us while inside we are still
the same person and feel inside as we did decades ago, shows us we
don't need these earth-bodies to live. Our spirit man doesn't need the
physical body to live, for if it did our spirit would age and grow old
parallel to the reduced physical abilities that come with aging. If so,
our spirit man would also endure things like failing spiritual eyesight
and spiritual ability to hear the Lord, have less spiritual endurance
and even less spiritual memory, so our spirit man would suffer the same fate - but it doesn't.

There
is no escaping it; Our bodies are of the earth and age accordingly. But
our spirits did not come from this earth, and therefore don't need the
earth-body to live.

Unchanging

This
observation that inside we are the same people we were when we were
children, unchanged but for physical, mental, and experiential
development, proves we are eternal. That we are unchanged over 20, 30,
40 and 50 years and more, scientifically speaking, we must therefore
conclude we will continue to be the same 75, 100, 500, 1000, 10,000
years or more from now. The only thing that has changed is our
experiences while in the physical world. Inside we remain the same.

Paul
said it this way: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we
are wasting away, inwardly we are renewed day by day....so we fix our
eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since that which is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." II Corinthians 4:16-18

Many Christian don't know how to identify nor live from their spirit

In
fact, my series offered above is largely about identifying your spirit
and how to have a relationship with the Father and Lord on a Holy Spirit
to human spirit basis.

Mentioning
in this space that inside we feel the same as we did decades ago, just
our bodies have changed around us, that starts the process. A person
looks down inside themselves to their 'core'.

You
notice your spirit when you say something wrong and you feel grieved
down inside you. Your mind notices that down inside you. It is where as
is described in popular culture, a person feels dirty after a sexual
encounter that in their mind they know was wrong. That dirty feeling,
that grievance is your spirit.

When
I sought the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the initial evidence as
seen in Acts of speaking in tongues, I so filled my head with books and
the opinions of others I found it difficult to know where and what my
spirit-man was. I was approaching the baptism with the Spirit
intellectually, trying to find or initiate the words in my mind, and it
was only our good friend, Janny, who taught me how to focus down inside
in my spirit.

Your
spirit is that part of you that is eternal that your body has grown and
changed and aged around. Your spirit is noticed when your mind shifts
its attention down inside when you notice something you said 'grieved'
you, where you sense a premonition about something bad about to happen,
and where you sense a joy some morning and in your mind you wonder what
your spirit man knows that is so good.

Consider
your spirit man, which combined with your soul is eternal and doesn't
need this earth-body to live. The Bible speaks of a day when believers
will receive bodies made of heavenly material, bodies which will never
age just like our spirit never ages...what a day...more next week,
blessings,

Have
you longed for greater sensitivity to the Father in your spirit 24/7
apart from just going to Him when you have a need? Have you wondered how
your personality fits into His, perhaps feeling like you don’t fit
anywhere in the body of Christ? The deepest level of knowing the Father in scripture is as Creator, flowing to us His creation, and that is foundational to fellowshipping with Him. This
series shares how to live with Him from His Spirit to our spirit, and
is also a very practical series with many real life examples (from
John's own life) to help you know the difference between your spirit and
His Spirit, and how to walk on a core level with the Father no matter
what life throws at you.

Just a word about our On-line Video Bible School
- these classes, so far; Old Testament I & II, Righteousness and
Our Authority in Christ - are a go-at-your-own-pace, no test, investment
in your own faith and understanding of the Word and Lord. Once
registered, your password is good for a whole year so you can take your
time, but as I'm hearing from students, once they start they have a hard
time stopping! Each class is about 45-55 minutes long, so they are in
easy to receive segments...consider investing in a deeper study of the
things of God!